CD Reviews

Great stuff if you can find it!

Roger Jönsson | Lund, Sweden | 08/29/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you like Joe Ely, Butch Hancock or Terry Allen, then you must track down a copy of this great cd. It's the musical soundtrack of a play Terry and his wife Jo Harvey Allen wrote and performed. It was based on an old diary of a hooker in Texas. This is not a compilation of material found elsewhere. It is a bit uneven which is not surprising considering that 6 or 7 artists are involved. But most of it is excellent country music - honky tonk with a Texas attitude - if you know what I mean (if you don't, then this is probably not for you.) Joe Ely sings hard country songs like "Whiskey And Women And Saturday Night or "Fate With A Capital F" - and they sound as if they could have been on his great first two albums. Butch Hancock also provides some of the finest recordings in his career with "Low Lights Of Town", "Roll Around" and "Wind's Gonna Blow You Away". It's a pity that Jimmie Dale Gilmore (who participated in the play) is nowhere to be found, because then the core of "The Flatlanders" would have been together again. Oh, well, Terry Allen fills his spot well, and his song "Angels Of The Wind" is worth the price of the album alone. Robert Earl Keen also makes some fine appearances. Simply excellent stuff, and a fascinating project."

Sing the blues, read the news

stagestormer | Fort Worth, TX United States | 02/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Terry and Jo Harvey Allen along with gypsy songwriter Joe Ely sing ragtime-country but it's like Butch Hancock says, "The wind gonna blow tomorrow just like it blowed today. And someday soon when your bones turn to dust that old winds gonna blow you away."
If you haven't listened to this album before your time is up you'll be missing out on one of the most exemplary pieces of rag-time Texas music ever written! Is/was West Texas ever part of your life? Drove through there once? You'll love this light hearted fiddlin', singin', celebration of love, life and dust."